A Bristol City Councillor has been accused of making a "racial slur" against people of Asian heritage on his Facebook page.

Conservative leader and councillor for Henbury and Brentry, Mark Weston, suggested “coolie work gangs” and a lack of “health and safety” measures meant it was easier for the Victorians to build rail lines.

The comment was made on Thursday night in response to a question about the delay on the MetroWest Portishead line.

Facebook user Jonathan Mock quickly raised his objection to the use of the word ‘coolies’ and said “you may want to reword that because I think you will find it is considered a racial slur these days”.

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Mr Weston said he wasn’t trying to be offensive and claims he had recently seen the word used on a BBC programme. The term ‘coolie’ is a derogatory word used to describe unskilled Asian workers and slaves.

The post has since been deleted, but Mr Mock is still concerned that the councillor would use the term in the first place.

He said: “To be honest I was quite shocked to see that term in 2017. I thought we’d let those kinds of archaic slurs behind decades ago.

The comment was made in response to a question about the delay on the MetroWest Portishead line (Image: Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

“It’s like a throwback to colonial times and not the kind of language I’d expect of a councillor- and a leader of the Tory’s on Bristol City Council - to be using given Bristol’s multicultural history and heritage.

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“Perhaps he meant navvies, but sometimes slips of the tongue like this display deeper attitudes.”

In response to the claims Mr Weston said: “I was re-watching Stephan Fry in America on Thursday night (as I love the show) and in the last episode he referred to the 'coolie work gangs' who completed the trans-pacific railway.

“I then saw a comment on Jonathan Mock's post about how the Victorians could build railways quicker than we can to which I replied that they had 'coolie work gangs and no health and safety'.

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“Since I had just seen it used in the same context on the BBC I assumed it was in everyday use. When Jonathan took offence at it I deleted the post as I thought that was easier.

“I wasn't trying to be offensive but I was underlining that the Victorians essentially had indentured labour and poor working conditions which is why they could build the railways quicker than we can.”